Apples of Gold
Radio Script for October 6, 2008
“Have You Ever Met a Real VIP?”
Hello, I’m Doug Apple…with Apples of Gold.
“He’s spending time with the President.”
That’s what my wife said about someone she knows.
“The President of the United States?” I asked.
“Yes. I don’t know what he’s doing, but he’s with the President.”
Wow. I’ve never even seen the President and this guy’s spending time with him.
Last week a friend of mine was at the vice-presidential debate in St. Louis. From his cell phone he sent me a close-up photo of Sarah Palin. I think he shook her hand.
It’s cool to be around important people. It elevates you.
Even the guy who works at the golf course where Bobby Bowden plays. “I shook his hand,” he said.
We all have stories to tell about our encounters with important people. We remember them well because our senses are heightened. When we get around VIPs, we tune in closely to all they do and say.
Well I just read about some men in the Bible who spent time with one of the all-time great VIP’s, the man named Daniel.
There they were, standing on the bank of the great Tigris River. The story in Daniel 10 doesn’t say what they were doing, but what does anyone do on the river bank? You mill around, chit-chat, and see who can skip rocks the farthest. If you stay long enough, maybe you stop and listen to the water and think deep thoughts.
And when you’re with a VIP, they are the center of attention. Even when they aren’t talking, everyone keeps an eye on them. It doesn’t matter whose event it is, when the VIP walks in it becomes their event.
So there was Daniel, along with the men paying attention to him. They knew that Daniel was a spiritual man, a man of dreams and visions. In fact, Daniel had been on a kind of fast. For three weeks he had eaten no choice food; no meat or wine had touched his lips. And he’d been in a state of mourning.
And what do you do when you are with someone who has been mourning? You try to cheer them up, to lighten their load, to get their mind off whatever is bothering them.
So I imagine those men sort of swirling around Daniel, maybe trying to entertain and amuse him. Then one of them told a funny story, but Daniel didn’t laugh.
The room gets a little chilly when the VIP doesn’t laugh.
So they all looked at Daniel, looking for cues about what to do next.
Daniel was looking out…at nothing. Oh he saw something, all right. But there was nothing there.
It’s creepy when someone stares at nothing.
And Daniel’s eyes got wide, and his face turned pale as death. Suddenly he dropped like a rag doll, his face to the ground, his eyes closed. Daniel was gone.
The men didn’t know what happened, and they didn’t stick around to find out. That creepy feeling turned into sheer terror and they fled for their lives, running from the river bank and hiding.
Meanwhile, Daniel had not been staring at nothing, but at a man who was actually a spiritual being above the river, unseen by the rest. Daniel described him later as “a man dressed in linen, with a belt of the finest gold around his waist. His body was like chrysolite, his face like lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and his voice like the sound of a multitude.”
A real VIP was on the scene.
Have you ever wondered who impresses the important people? Well it’s the people who are more important than them.
When Daniel had this encounter with a spiritual being, he was thoroughly impressed.
And I don’t think this is just some remote Bible story. I think spiritual beings are alive and well today. The New Testament talks about angels and demons. Much like Daniel, Paul in the book of Ephesians wrote about rulers in the heavenly realms.
Yes, I am impressed by this world’s important people. But what would knock my socks off is an encounter with a spiritual being. A good one, please, not a bad one.
It hasn’t happened yet, not in some Daniel or Ezekiel-like vision. But I’m hoping for it.
No, I don’t know what I’m asking for. It’s just that I believe in the spiritual realm and spiritual beings, and I would like to have an extraordinary, life altering brush with one of them; an undeniable encounter.
I can’t even say that I’m praying for it, because I’m not. But as I draw near to God in fasting and prayer, soaking up His Word and resisting evil, my mind is more and more captured by spiritual things.
And I look forward to the day when, like Daniel, I’ll have a story to tell.
The day I spent time with a very real VIP.
Comments?
E-mail me: dougapple@wave94.com.
May God bless you today! With Apples of Gold…I’m Doug Apple.
© 2008 The Arrow’s Tip
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(Proverbs 25:11 – “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.”)
Why “The Arrow’s Tip”? Each morning, after diligently seeking the Lord, I write Apples of Gold. Then before I release it to the public I pray one final prayer, “Lord, send forth your arrows.” I envision Apples of Gold as arrows, tips dipped in the river of the water of life that flows from the throne of God (Rev. 22:1), sailing toward the hearts and minds of men and women around the world.
Doug Apple
General Manager - Wave 94
Christian Radio for Tallahassee
PO Box 4105
Tallahassee, FL 32315
(850) 926-8000
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